This image of the Cygnus Loop is a mosaic of 40 separate pointings of the
ROSAT HRI in 26 directions. Each observation has been
background-subtracted and exposure-corrected, and they have been combined
using the ESAS package for extended objects (available through the
USRSDC). The complex structure of this supernova remnant is the result of
a basic physical mechansism: interaction of the blast wave with largescale
inhomogeneities in the interstellar medium. The complete mapping of the
Cygnus Loop with the HRI is an ongoing project of US and German
investigators headed by J. Graham and B. Aschenbach.
(Image created by N. Levenson and S. Snowden.)
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